


Just a Moment in the Night

by peachywise



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friendship to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Multi, fun au where he is not dead, late night triste
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 21:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18169811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachywise/pseuds/peachywise
Summary: You and Ben have been friends for years. Okay, maybe a little more than friends, but given his situation at the Hargreeves house of horrors, nothing between you two could really happen. But maybe this night could change that.





	Just a Moment in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> hello! okay this is just a little one shot based on a request i got over on my tumblr peachywise. ‘A Ben imagine where you’re teens and he’s still alive and you sneak out together and it’s cute maybe a lil steamy but mostly fluff and you guys get caught by one of the siblings’ hope you like it! also i only did one quick little edit but i’ll go through it again tomorrow so apologies in advance for any mistakes, lmao. as always, readers is they/them pronouns.

“What are you doing Number Six.”

At the suddenness of your voice, Ben jolted and nearly fell off his bed, but instead just dropped the heavy flashlight he had been using to read the comic he’d been so engrossed with. He winced at just how loud it had landed.

“How the hell did you make your voice sound so deep?” He whispered, “I thought you were my dad.”

Smiling coyly, you walked over to his small twin bed. “You have your spindly little talent, I have mine.” Flopping down beside him, you laid your legs over his which were under his luxury duvet. It was no consolation to this shitty childhood he had been given, but still. Gotta look at some of the positives in life at least. This thing was soft as hell.

Ben shifted over a bit to make more room for your head on the pillow. “I would argue you have a lot more talents than just that,” he tilted his head towards yours, offering you a sly smile of his own.

You grabbed the comic out of his hand and whacked him on the nose. “Don’t flirt with me after I caught you reading with a flashlight like your seven years old,” you laughed a little too loudly, turning towards him so your face was only three inches apart. Ben stifled your laugh by covering your mouth with his hand, his face downturned in a less than sincere admonishing portrait. “Do you want to wake everyone up?”

You rolled your eyes, grabbing his hand and pushing it away. “I’m not the one who just dropped a flashlight on your floor, now am I?” Yeah, seemed like he forgot about that one. Before you could laugh even more at the widening of his eyes, another voice coming from behind the door and the softest knock had you shutting up fast. He covered your mouth again. What a shot to your trust.

“Ben dear, are you alright? Do you need anything?”

Grace. Even though she was all machine, she was all comfort and nurturing love too. At least from what he’d told you about her. But you knew he needed it. Just like how right now, you knew he needed to maybe not get caught with you in his bed.

“No, I’m fine mom, just trying to sleep!” He tossed back in a quiet whisper. You licked his palm and smirked as he squirmed at it, removing his hand at last.

Grace paused in silence, a tense moment of sudden quietness pulsating around the suddenly tense room. You were wondering if she had actually heard your voice and was planning on intervening, or worse, getting Reginald. But then your worries slightly eased, as she replied in that same loving tone of hers, “alright. Have lovely dreams, sweetheart.” You waited until you couldn’t hear the click of her heels going down the hall anymore before talking again.

“Wanna get out of here?” You whispered to Ben. He was already scrambling out of his sheets and grabbing your hand, tugging you up with him. You took note of his fully dressed figure—familiar dark hoodie, slightly scuffed jeans. You couldn’t help but tease him, asking, “oh, so you were expecting me? That’s a little presumptuous,” as he slipped on a denim jacket and tugged on matte black boots.

Ben smirked. “Who said I was expecting  _you_?”

You would feign hurt, but you both knew he was lying. This little scenario of you breaking into his room, or sometimes him breaking out and meeting you at your own house, had been routine for three years straight. Back when it started you were just young teens who met by chance on a runaway night, innocent and desperate for acceptance from any source that would latch on. You gave that to one another, a friendship and a shoulder and anything else you might have needed at whatever moment. But at this point, he extended far past the term ‘best friend’. And while yes, maybe you two did flirt a little too much and you wondered what it would be like if you could actually live a normal life, not having to sneak around in fear his dad would find you and metaphorically—or maybe literally— rip you to shreds, deeper feelings had never been fully explored or talked about. But they were there. It just wasn’t plausible.

At least not yet.

“Oh? Guess I’ll leave you to it then,” you quipped with a little smile. turning on your heel back towards his open window. He was fast in beating you there, crawling out first before you could even get a foot out.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Shut up,” he mumbled, his expression still very much amused.

Following after you heard his thud on the ground, you grabbed on to the sturdy ivy and vine snaking up the looming stone house. Thankfully his bedroom was on the second floor, so you only had to shimmy down a bit before you could safely land on the cement side of his house. You only minorly tripped this time, as opposed to the other multiple times you just completely fell over. Ben was there to grab your arm and steady you, offering a sarcastic, “graceful.”

Shrugging your jacket more snug against your body to fight the slight wind chill, you stuck out your tongue at him. “Whatever. I seem to remember you breaking your arm when you fell off the top of those monkey bars. I thought you were supposed to be some super badass hero. It took twenty minutes to stop your crying.”

“And if  _I_  remember correctly, you dared me to do it. Wasn’t my fault I was trying to impress you.”

Cutting through the back alleys of the row of houses, you veered right and back on the familiar neighbourhood path. The occasional bumps of your shoulders and accidental brushing of the backs of your hands as you ambled was a familiar comforting sentiment. “Didn’t work,” you joked, eliciting a snort out of him. “Honestly, I thought you hated me after that.”

“You did? Why?” Genuine shock crossed his face, his eyebrows scrunched together. You turned slightly away, opting to stare at your dirty white sneakers instead.

“Because I didn’t see you for a couple months after that. I mean, I know now that your dad was just keeping you on a tight leash and didn’t want you in the public eye until it had healed. But we’d just met each other and I didn’t realize the full extent of your situation at home. I just thought you decided to write me off, or something.”

His features relaxed a touch as soon as the familiar park you two always found yourself at came into view. But you could still see the certain sadness that clung to him like transparent irreparable skin. He had discussed a bit with you over the years about his family, the truth behind the tails the media liked to circulate and the central figure of hope and justice Reginald had painted himself as. In reality, he was a central figure of despair and truthfully, some extremely damaging abuse. You only knew the extent in what the man had force Ben to do, forced Ben to  _become,_  but you could only imagine what it had been like for his other siblings as well. It was in these last three years you had known him when the academy started to crumble to bits.

You just hoped Ben wouldn’t crumble along with it.

“You were wrong. If anything, I decided that I would do anything to see you again,” he replied, his smile turning gentle and his eyes softening to that familiar kindness and sincerity you got so lost in. You tried to keep your breath steady at his comment, not wanting to elicit a reaction that would show you were in any way affected by his words or reveal just how badly you wanted to repeat the sentiment back. But then he made it easier when he added, “if only to tell you straight to your face that I hated you and did, in fact, blame you for breaking my arm.”

Heat flooded to your cheeks and a sudden laugh burst from your mouth, suddenly released from whatever tension you had previously felt. Slapping his arm playfully, you chastised him by saying, “very funny. You know, maybe your super power is actually comedy. It certainly isn’t lying.”  He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and tugged you close, hugging you tight as you continued walking along.

“Bet I can beat you to the tree.”

“What—“ you started to question but got cut off when his arm abruptly released you and he slightly pushed you back. You had to watch on pitifully as his figure became less visible in the cloaked shadows of night as he ran. What a bitch.

“Not fair!” You shouted at him, quickly chasing after him, hopping over the low chain surrounding the perimeter of the park, maneuvering and weaving your way through the various trees and flowers and bushes littered around. Ben hollered out loud, a noise of pure freedom and cheerfulness. You rolled your eyes, before skidding to the stop and the low tangle knotted tree– the tree you two spent so much time at– stopping just before his casual figure. He just leaned against the trunk, while you huffed and sucked in the cool air to catch your breath. He barely gave you time to do that, quickly moving towards you and grabbing you by the waist, lifting you up on the first low branch.

You lowered your hand down so he could hold on and haul himself up, though he probably didn’t really need your help. He offered a polite, “thanks,” anyway.

Nestling yourself where the thick branch met the trunk of the tree, you let your feet dangle off as Ben scooted closer, leaning his weight against your side. You took it as an invitation to rest your head on his shoulder. He didn’t complain.

You stayed like that for a while, in that natural contented silence. Both your breath and his totally in synch with each other. When you weren’t looking up at the rustling leaves, or the half crescent sky, you were watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest match your own.

“Thank you.”

Propping your chin on his shoulder so you could look up at him, you were only able to make out his distinctive features in the dark light since you knew them so well. But he looked thoughtful. A little apprehensive, maybe. But no less comfortable around you as he often was.

“For what?” You murmured, sitting up a bit better and raising your head.

Ben took a deep breath, dark eyes overlooking the empty quiet park. “For always being here. When I met you, things were really hard, and they’ve only gotten harder. But you made it better. Made me feel like a person and not just someone’s property and tool.” Quirking his head to the side slightly, his eyes met yours. “I’m not sure how much longer I could have lasted,” he admitted in a strained whisper.

All you could think to do through the pain of the grip that suddenly seized your heart was to reach over and squeeze his hand, speaking through the burning emotion forming in your throat. “Ben, you persisted through that childhood with your heart still intact—that’s an incredible thing, something you did all on your own. I have never known a kinder, and more stubborn soul, but I met you that way. This life, it isn’t forever. Situations are temporary, people are temporary. But you can choose your family. I chose you.” Releasing his hand to look at the watch on your clock—noting the time at 12:02 A.M.— you reached over and rested both of your palms on his cheeks, turning him to face you more directly. “You  _survived_.”

“Happy eighteenth birthday, Ben.”

Ben swiftly pulled you into a tight embrace, and it took you a second to catch your balance on the branch of the tree before wrapping your arms tightly around his neck, breathing him in deep. This was a day he’d been waiting for most of his life. One you knew his siblings had too. He could leave, legally and fully, from that house. He’d told you before how he never wanted to run off and cut himself off from his siblings completely. Those guys were his chosen family, and you understood that much. But this allowed him the freedom he craved. It was certainly something to celebrate.

Moving out of his arms, you couldn’t help the large grin that overcame your face, outmatched only by his own, despite the almost teary look in his eyes. Bending your heads together until your foreheads touched, both of your laughs rang loudly through the empty night.

His sigh of, “ _I’m free_ ,” sent a sudden chill up your arms just at the sound of his jovial, intimate tone.

But you sure heated back up fast when unexpectedly his lips met your own.

Returning his slow, soft kiss with gentle encouragement, he broke away from you before it turned into anything else. You expected to meet a face just as shocked as your own, surely it had to have been a spur of the moment thing, but no. Quite frankly, Ben looked pretty fucking content with himself.

The bastard had been holding out.

“Is this how you treat people you hate? I should break your arm more often,” you smirked. Ben rolled his eyes as he reached forward, entangling his hand in your hair as he tugged you forward again, nipping slightly at your jaw as he murmured, “this is how I treat people I love, stupid,” before crashing his lips against yours a little more intensely than last time.

Well, then. You didn’t want to argue against that.

Reacting with just as much enthusiasm and fervor, you sighed against him as one hand rested on his chest, the other wrapped around his neck as if to get him closer despite the limiting scene of the tree. Ben’s lips moved across your own, before trailing to the sensitive spot behind your ear and down your neck, letting you catch your breath only for a second before he met your lips again. His hands moving down slowly to grip your hips, trailing under your shirt slightly, skimming so gently across your skin that you would have thought it was the wind if not for the burning heat that spiked at his contact.

You felt like you were falling. Truly, so suddenly falling, that your thoughts couldn’t grasp anything coherent enough other than Ben.

And then you hit the ground, and a sharp, almost unbearable pain shot up your arm.

“Klaus?” Ben suddenly exclaimed, as you groaned and curled up into your side. Please don’t be a god damn nightmare. If he thought you were his brother, then you were going to be mortified—

“Well, hello little dove. That didn’t look fun.”

Oh. No, Klaus was actually here. Alright.

As a figure bent down beside you, you could easily make out who it was simply from the furry jacket and curly silhouette of his hair. He glanced down at your arm inquisitively, before looking back up at the tree where a rather embarrassed Ben gazed down like this was some sort of horror show. He quickly caught himself mid gawk and hopped down from the tree, rushing over and bending down beside you, propping you up slightly as you cradled your arm.

“If that’s how you treat people you love Ben, then I beg of you, please tell me you don’t love me. This wasn’t at all what I expected to find on my lovely midnight stroll.” Klaus winced melodramatically.

Ben’s eyes snapped up to him, asking, “how long were you watching?” Suddenly even more embarrassed than he was before. Serves him right for dropping you.

You waved your good hand between the two to get them to shut up, before biting between your gritted teeth through the throbbing pain, “this is a lovely little get together, but could you guys possibly continue this chat on the way to the hospital?” Sarcasm was extremely evident in your tone. “I think you broke my arm.”

Now that got Ben’s attention.

“Oops.”

Yeah, Ben. Fucking oops.


End file.
